I've had some great teachers along the way that I would like to pay tribute to: my mother Florence, first and foremost, who set the stage for me and gave me the desire and the love of cooking. She was amazing because she did it all without all of the modern conveniences we have today. Also, she came through the depression so she was able to make things on a shoestring that would rival anything made at the Waldorf Astoria. She believed in doing it all 'from scratch', as she called it, although later in life she did come to love Betty Crocker cake mixes. This is about the only thing I can think of that was a short-cut for her. Fortunately I inherited all of her recipes.Then there was my mother-in-law, Lenna, who was also a great cook. She introduced me to pinto beans with her wonderful beans and ham that she cooked for 24 hours and that was always mouth-watering good. She served these along with homemade scones and I really thought I had died and gone to heaven after one of her 'beans and scones' meals. After she passed away, my father-in-law married her best friend, Helen, who was of Polish descent and was even more amazing as a cook. She had been orphaned at an early age and had to earn her living waiting tables and working in the kitchens of various restaurants in Chicago and she came away with a great understanding of what works and what doesn't, how to make it fast and good and, of course, some wonderful Polish dishes that I was privileged to partake of.
I learned by trial and error, mostly error for the first five or ten years, until I was able to become a little more adept in the kitchen. I am by no means a 'gourmet' cook, but specialize in the daily garden-variety cooking that feeds hungry families without too much fuss and a minimum of clean-up. I worked outside the home for several years after my children were older and this necessitated coming up with some quick and easy dishes that I could fix in the morning and leave to cook during the day and be ready for the table when I came home at night. Working was good for me in many ways, but it also helped me to sharpen my cooking skills so I could make something and have it ready in 30 minutes or less when that was all the time I had after a long day at the office. This doesn't mean I didn't stop by The Colonel's or Wendy's on my way home once in a while and pick up something so I didn't have to cook once I got home. But most of the time, I did the cooking as well as everything else (with my husband's help with the salad making and clean-up). It became a tremendous challenge to me to be able to cook things that were easy to make yet delicious to eat, as well. Over the years I broadened my recipe repertoire and came to know which ones I could trust and which ones weren't going to be repeaters. I became a 'recipe magnet' and have hundreds of recipes that I have made my own because they are the kind that you know are going to work just as well for you as they did for the person who gave it to you. But there was always that one question that every woman who cooks for a family has to face at the end of the day--
WHAT'S DO I MAKE TONIGHT FOR DINNER?????
Hence this blog, which I hope will come in handy for you and for anyone else you happen to share it with.
